Also published via The Left Berlin, April 2021
In the wake of the COVID pandemic broke out a search was rightly unleashed for a vaccine. But this has been far from an impeccable victory for science. This article makes three points: First an evident series of scientific errors made by Astra-Zeneca. Secondly a myriad of potential for conflicts of interest exists between prominent scientists, giant drug companies, regulatory agencies meant to monitor safety and government. Thirdly, scientists are vulnerable to pressures of fame, greed and nationalism – just like anybody else. This case history of Astra-Zeneca again exposes why private profit drives cannot give the people a safe and rational drugs industry. Capitalism cannot get this right for the people – of either rich imperialist type nations, or the weaker dependent nations.
Introduction
Many critiques of the drugs industry under capitalism have laid out the socialist case before. [1], [2] I will not repeat these, but here summarise them: under capitalism, the drugs industry is purely motivated by a chase for profits. It ensures profits by strategies which include: (1) molecular rouletting to evade patents rather than making true innovations; (2) minimizing safety concerns and evading true scientific assessments of effectiveness – achieved by a conflict of interest within the regulatory agencies (eg the Food and Drugs Agency (FDA) in the USA). Such conflicts have often led to sharp calls for reform; [3] (3) massive over-pricing as compared to real costs of production; (4) relying on public sector contracts for added ‘sweet pricing’; and finally (5) relying on public sector research funding for any real innovation.
I turn to AZ’s conduct in regards to the COVID vaccine, asking should we agree with the notoriously self-serving Kate Bingham, when she says: “I do feel sorry for AstraZeneca. They’ve been caught up in geopolitics. But, hopefully, history will look back and treat them kindly and say, actually, they stepped up to provide a safe, effective drug that is easy to deploy for the world.” [4] What does the record show to date?
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[1] Joel Lexchin, ‘The Pharmaceutical Industry in Contemporary Capitalism’, March 1 2018; Monthly Review; at: https://monthlyreview.org/2018/03/01/the-pharmaceutical-industry-in-contemporary-capitalism/
[2] Ben Goldacre, ‘Bad Pharma’; London 2012, Fourth Estate.
[3] Joshua M. Sharfstein, ‘Editorial : Reform at the FDA—In Need of Reform’ January 14, 2020; JAMA. 2020;323(2):123-124.
[4] Robin McKie, James trapper & Toby Helm; ‘Blood clot cases ‘could dent faith of young women in AstraZeneca’; 4 April 2021 ‘The Guardian’; https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/04/blood-clot-cases-could-dent-faith-of-young-women-in-astrazeneca